Nick

update

Samuel Burk Warrant No 82030 joined 22/03/1897 retired 27/03/1922 X Division. Entitled to 1897 and 1911 medals.

I know someone who had an Afghan OSM from the MDP otherwise the combination of 40 plus years service unless they were reserve forces just doesn't add up, nice group.

I am guessing Ministry of Defence Police ?

Many many discrepancies across the board I am afraid. It highlights just one of the many inconsistencies with the issue of medals for civilian and at times military service, which leaves many public servants whether civilian or military frustrated and undervalued, For example the prison service qualified for the Jubilee and Coronation medals. NCA and BF & IE did not. Of course many dismiss such medals as 'mehh' and not worth anything, but of course the same dissenters are the ones still sporting them on their medal bars regardless. No rhyme or reason to many decisions, many of which especially within the civilian world are made by senior civil servants within government who have little understanding of the departments they are in charge of.

PC (CID) is usually indicative of Metropolitan Police CID officers, as a work around I would guess for the fact that Detective is not a rank per se and couldn’t be used. Not sure when or if this has now stopped as it seems to have been mainly seen on older medals. Not personally seen it on senior ranks. But there wasn’t this modern obsession with detective grade in years gone by. Senior Officers now seem to like keeping the nomenclature of Detective throughout their service, even when they might not have done any ‘detective’ work for years. Many Detective Chief Superintendent's about, most of which returned to uniform duties to get promotion, and haven’t been working as a detective on detective branch for many years 🤷‍♂️

I have seen a couple of similar examples of bad fitting on that type of medal mounting (not just PLSGC), which were a lot older than this example. I thought they might that been damaged over time, but now I am not so sure.

Thanks for the heads up on this, its useful to know that 🤙

Is the one on the left an experimental Met armorial crest ? Photos are from 1969 there are others about in online photo libraries.

Interesting that helmets were used as opposed to cocked hats as worn in the Metropolitan Police.

You need to be on the awards and accreditation notices page and make sure you click supplements before you search.

In coming years I suspect that annual figure is going to drop significantly.

Don't we all love a W@nker Medal 🤣

Its in the supplement https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/41357/supplement/2270/data.htm

Call me a cynic or perhaps disillusioned if you want. But the problem with the UK, as proven time and time again is that the criteria for awards is governed by archaic rules and process, set by faceless unaccountable individuals who don't want to step away from tradition steeped in class and privilege. Unless you are a celebrity, sports person or part of the establishment, the criteria that governs who gets what is biased, and restrictive. Time and time again years and years of campaigning is required to get recognition for many individuals who are deserving of some kind of award, and by the time the award is approved, conveniently many of the deserving have already passed away. This has alway been the way, the Military General Service Medal being a case in point. There is certainly no will or desire to recognise anything undertaken within the police or other civilian services, many campaigns for recognition have fallen on deaf ears over the years. Too busy looking after their cronies in the establishment and other undeserving cases.

No you can search for free as far as I am aware it is a bit clunky though

Try the Gazette 11th April 1958 mentions Imperial Service Medal Edward Henry Wingrave Engine fitter HM Dockyard Portsmouth.

Nice collection of medals there. Nice to see the boxes which are much harder to come by. Thanks for sharing.

The tunic sleeve has two cloth loops. The top loop on the sleeve is the one to fix the armlet to the tunic. The other loop is just used underneath to pass and hold the armlet to the tunic. The metal buckle may come with two prongs affixed to the centre bar. The prongs were used to grasp the armlet and hold it on the top loop. The modern buckles came without prongs probably as the prongs damage the armlet over time. This buckle is without prongs but the method is the same to attach the armlet. When the armlet is removed from the buckle you will see that the centre part of the metal buckle has a gap to enable you to slip the end of the armlet onto that part of the buckle. Both outer bands of the buckle are solid bars. Loop the other end of the armlet through the cloth loop on the underside of the arm. Bring that end up to the top cloth loop. Position the metal bar under the top of the cloth loop so that one metal bar is exposed and you can slip the loose end through the gap but emerging on that side of the cloth loop. Having passed the loose end between the metal b ar and the cloth loop bring it across the top cloth loop and pass it under the unused metal bar. If you have it right the loose end should lie beneath the armlet and not flapping free. Tighten the armlet thro’ the buckle to suit your preference.

Someone has sent me some guidance on how to put on the duty armbands correctly. I will post it shortly.

But why do emergency services deserve an official Queens medal and a supermarket worker have to make do with some piece of corporate junk that is not worth anything ? Seems unfair when the risk of exposure was just as great. For example UK Border Force were issued with some cheap challenge coin which was considered pretty worthless by most recipients (and they didn't qualify for the platinum jubilee medal either). Lots of inconsistencies in how the UK Government decides who gets awards and rewards. I am sure many NHS workers have preferred the bonus payment to a medal, but don't see why receiving this should preclude them from a medal if it was to be awarded. At the end of the day I will be surprised if such a medal happens. You have to weigh up who was deserving and this is a difficult thing to assess. Just because someone works for the NHS shouldn't make it an automatic award criteria, any more than someone who is military unless deployed in direct support of the pandemic.

Trouble with such an award is who actually deserves it. ? Yes some frontline NHS staff working with sick COVID patients indeed deserve it, as do other care workers working in the community. Some emergency services and some military personnel who assisted medical services also deserve it. But what about the host of other essential workers that continued working in frontline public facing jobs in the darkest days of lockdown, pre vaccination. Just take supermarket staff who continued to serve the public keeping shops open for essential goods putting themselves at risk during those dark days. Just too many people to count and I think it would be wrong to just reward those that wear a public service uniform. Makes the whole thing unfeasable.

On your picture he is shown as serving in the Met Police from 1919 to 1946. The Police LSGC medal was not instituted until 1951 so he would not have qualified.

This is a difficult one to achieve. Police collecting is very niche, I would love to be able to oblige but for it to work it would probably need some separation form the main server/club. Would be interested to hear if there is any appetite for it ?

The rules are quite clear politics have no place here. This includes political memes and photos. As proven time and time again, all it leads to is discord, arguments and problems.